Machine for making striped loop cloth



p 11, 1956 R. s. STEINBERG MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP CLOTH 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 1, 1951 xom 9.53m 55 xuom E xuum 2 Ezfezaz 6E5 5 k 2 6 Sept- 1956 R. s. STEINBERG 2,762,212

MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP CLOTH Filed NOV. 1, 1951 3 Sheeis-Sheet2 BAG/f YARN RED /0 BROWN fifPOW/V BACK J/Df 0F C107 /5 Jf/TJf) 5777271Au 0; JAM: 6010/? INVENTOR. fiOaE/PT 0. Srf/mszlm ATTOR/VIfYJ' p 1, 1956R. s. STEINBERG 2,762,212

MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP- CLOTH Filed NOV. 1, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Rising Cam Mom FIG. 3.

Wing Corn Mechanism For Periodically Changing Color Of Stripes AccordingTo PoHem smch Com INVENTOR ROBERT S. STEINBERG ATTORNEYS 2,762,212 7MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LooP CLOTH Robert S. Steinberg, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor of thirtythree and one-third per cent to Manuel W.Steinberg and thirty-three and one-third per cent to Samuel Steinberg,Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application November '1, 1951, Serial No. 254,224

11 Claims. (Cl. 66-93) This invention relates to a variable striped loopcloth as an article of manufacture, and to a machine for making thatarticle.

The invention has as one object the provision of a new distinctivearticle of manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and distinctivecloth.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine for makingvariable striped loop cloth.

It is well known in the art that a distinctive cloth known as loop clothcan be readily manufactured. This cloth utilizes, as a base, a clothhaving the conventional jersey stitch. The pile or loop cloth includes aseries of loops which are held in place by the jersey stitches. Inseveral prior patents such as U. S. Patent 741,113 to R. I. Creelman,granted October 13, 1903, entitled Knitting Machine, it has beenproposed to make a striped loop cloth by making the loops (pile) of onecolor and the jersey stitches of another color and then periodicallyomitting the loops altogether. Hence, with that arrangement only twocolors would be possible, and over the span of the second color therewould be no loops.

Another method of making striped loop cloth has contemplated theutilization of a fixed feed kniting machine to which is fed loop yarn ofdifferent colors. In such'an arrangement, however, the dimensions of theindividual stripes are ultimately determined by the number of feeds -.oncarriers on the machine, as will be described. The present inventionovercomes these difficulties by providving for numerous colors found instripes, the dimensions of which are not dependent upon the number offeeds, .and for the entire upper surface of the cloth to be charac-.terized by distinctive loops.

In contrast to the striped loop cloths discussed above, the presentinvention contemplates the formation of a variable striped loop cloth.When a striped cloth is .being manufactured, one of the basic patternconsiderations is the repeat of the pattern. Repeat may be broadlydefined as the total number of coursesin a color combination. Forinstance, if the pattern contemplate a .10 course stripe of navy, a 15course stripe of white, and :a 7 course stripe of red, the repeat is 32courses. Thus, :the same striping pattern of navy-white-red would berepeated every 32 courses.

In the multi-feed, or fixed feed, knitting machine, the repeat of thecolor combination is limited by, and cannot exceed, the number of feedsin the machine. Therefore, if such a machine is used in the manufactureof a striped loop cloth, the maximum repeat is equal to the number offeeds. Naturally, a smaller repeat canbe obtained by feeding the samesequences of colors to integral sub-multiples of the total carriers.That is, if a 96 carrier machine is employed, 3 repeats of 32 courses,or 4 repeats of 24 courses, etc., may be obtained. However, the maximumrepeat is 96 courses. So, if a red stripe of x courses is desired, andnavy and white stripes are also desired, the total courses of navy andwhite cannot exceed 96x in a 96 carrier machine. This may be seen by2,752,212 Patented Sept. 11, 1956 referring to a table of possiblestriping sequences in which the maximum repeat is desired:

REPEAT OF 96 CARRIER MACHINE In accordance with the present invention,however, no such limitation is present, other than the practicallimitation of what the variable striped cloth is to be eventually usedfor. That is, the present invention permits the manufacture of amulti-colored loop cloth, each color of which covers, for instance,1,600 courses. However, a tri-colored loop cloth having a repeat of4,800 courses might well have limited utility in the manufacture of endproducts. Nevertheless such a loop cloth can be manufactured by thisinvention if desired, while such manufacture could not be effected byprior art structures. Some possible variable striping sequences, inaccordance with this invention, are shown in the following table:

REPEAT OF VARIABLE STRIPING MACHINE Thus a variable striped loop clothmay be obtained, in which the number of courses in each stripe is notlimited by any given total, and in which the total number of courses inthe repeat is variable. It is to be understood, of course, that morethan three colors of-stn'pe may be incorporated in the cloths beingmanufactured.

According to the present invention, a variable striped loop cloth may bemade on the highly efiicient and rapid circular knitting machine, eitherof the type wherein the cylinder with needles rotates or in that type inwhich the cylinder with needles is stationary. In thefollowing'description the invention is shown as applied to a machine ofthe former type, i. e. one in which the cylinder and needles rotates.Inasmuch, however, as there is-always relative motion between theneedles and the several cams, for instance, to be described, it must beunderstood that the several motions hereinafter described in thespecification and claims must be interpreted as relative motion inpracticing the invention with a stationary cylinder type machine. Thepresent invention further contemplates the use of a plurality ofstriping boxes in combination with such knitting machines, thesestriping boxes being utilized to shift the color of the loop thread,from time to time, according to a predetermined and desired clothpattern.

In the alternative striping boxes for both the loop thread and the backthread are provided so that the color of both the loop stitches and thejersey stitches may be changed simultaneously or in a predeterminedrelationship. The adaptation of the striping box to the making ofstriped loop cloth is not as straightforward as may 9&- hand beperceived, since more threads are involved than are normally used. Theinvention contemplates feeding the yarn in such a way that the machineoperates without confusing the several pieces of yarn.

In the drawings:

lFigure 1. is a'schematic view of one form of the invenwhich normallywould be invisible are shown in order that their proper positionrelativeto the sinkers may be seen.

Figure 4 illustrates a' pi'eceof cloth contemplated here- Figure 5 is afront view of, and Figure 6 is a side view of, a striping box suitablefor use with another form of the invention. The following descriptionapplies particularly to a circular knitting machine with a rotatingneedle cylinder. It is to be understood that, if a machine having astationary cylinder is used, all parts hereafter described as stationarywould rotate to the right, and those parts described as moving to theleft would not rotate. In effect, therefore, all motion in the followingdescription is contemplated to be relative motion. I In Figure 1 thereare a series of needles 10 having butts 11, these needles being mountedin and rotated by a rotary cylinder 12 by a motor 40 (see Fig. 3) in thewell known Way. As the butts move to the left they strike the rising cam13; the needles are raised to a latch clearing positionjfare thenlowered to a tuck position by cam 13 and wing cam 25, and remain in thistuck position untilbeing further lowered by the stitch cam 14, inconventional manner. Interposed between the needles 10 are sinkers 15which are also. conventional. When the sinkers are fed with yarn undernose of the sinker 15, the needles will form the yarn into standardjersey stitches, and when, in addition, the sinkers are fed with yarnabove the nose 20 of the sinker 15 loop cloth will be formed in the well4 V would be adjusted so that the carrier for red yarn would be activeuntil a given needle had passed five striping boxes, and then thestriping boxes would be shifted to their brown thread carriers whichwould remain active until the given needle had passed twenty-fivestriping boxes, and then the striping boxes would be shifted to whiteduring one revolution of the machine. Apparatus for effecting shiftingof striping boxes as aforesaid is well known'and is thereforeillustratedas the block 19.ofl

Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 3 it is apparent that -the back yarn feed 17 isarranged to feed the'yarnin the space between r the needles 10and thenoses 20 of the sinkers. The

under the nose 20 of the sinker 15 and forms the jersey 7 'sti-tches, orin other words the base or back of the loop cloth. A striping box 18feeds the yarn which will constitute-the loops of the loop cloth.Striping box 18 is displaced from feed 17 in the direction of needletravel by a suitable distance as will hereinafter appear. The stripingbox 18' may be of any suitable conventional design, for example of thetype shown in U; S. patent'to Samuel Mis'hcon, et al., No. 2,549,701,granted April 17, 1951, entitled Apparatus for Knitting Striped Fabric,or as shown in U. S. patent to Samuel Mishcon et al., No. 2,543,121,granted February 27, 1951, entitled Knitting Machine. The later one ofthose two patents shows suitable means for cutting the old yarn, after ashift to a new color has been made, and I contemplate such a cuttingapparatus.

' It is further understood that in a circular knitting machine that anumber of knitting units are disposed about the cylinder 12 so that foreach revolution of the cylinder 12 a large number of threads are addedto the cloth. Therefore, in connection with Figures-1 and 3 it isunderstood that there will be a large number, such as sixteen orthirty-two, knitting units disposed around the multiunit machine, allunits being identical with the typical unit shown in Figures 1 and 3,and this consideration has been designated by the legend appearing inFigure 1.

Any conventional means may be provided for shifting the component partsof the several striping boxes 18 from one color to another. For example,assume that the machine has sixteen loop yarn stripingboxes'such as 18,and it is desired to make a thin red stripe five courses wide, a brownstripe twenty-five courses wide, and then a white stripe sixteen courseswide, etc. The machine numerous sinkers do not have a true circularmotion but are moved forwardly and rearwardly relative to the needles bythe V indent of the sinker cam 21. When the back yarnis to be fed intothe machine the sinker noses are rapidly drawn behind the row ofneedlesby the down slope portion of the V indent of sinker cam 21 as shown inFigure 3. Immediately preceding this, the needles 10 are lowered to tuckpositionfrom latch clearing position by means of the wing cam 25 on therising cam 13. At approximately this time the loop yarn is fed justabove the sinker nose as shown in Figure 2, so.

the jersey back stick and interlocking the loop yarn held on the nose ofthe sinker with the jersey back stitch. The needle butts then strike therising cam of the next stage and are raised to the latch clearingposition, and the entire sequence is repeated. 7 a

The. yarn cutting element 26, positioned as shown in Figure 3 is a partof the combination claimed in certain of the appended claims, althoughthis cutter isitself old as it is fully disclosed in said U. S. PatentNo. 2,549,701. In Figure 4, there is shown a sample of the variablestriped cloth produced by the machines of'Figures 1 to 3 inclusive. Theback side of the cloth isof a single color whereas the front'side hasstripes of predetermined varying widths and colors. The front side hasthe loops customarily found in loop cloth over its entire surface,

the color varying as determined by the presetting'of the machine.

When it is desirable to feed both the back andloop yarn through a singlestriping box the striping box of Figures 5 and 6 may be used. Here, theyarn carriers 30 and 31 are somewhat longer and when active extend fromthe striping box at a greater angle than yarn carriers 32 and 33. Hence,the yarn carriers 30 or 31 when active are in proper position to feedthe back yarn under the noses of the sinkers whereas the remaining yarncarriers are, when active, in proper position to feed the yarn above thesinker nose. 1 1

The striping box of Figures 5 and6 is so arranged that the back yarn isfed to one of the yarn carriers 30 or 31. This back yarn finger ismaintained independent of the shifting mechanism 19, while the remainingfingers are controlled by the said mechanism 19 to periodically shiftthe colors of the loop yarn. Thus a single striping box associated witheach unit of the machine may be utilized to feed both back and loop yarnto that such as 17 rather than the single colored back yarns dis cussedpreviously. The yarn carriers of each of the striping boxes areinterconnected, preferably by synchronization of the respective shiftingmechanisms 19, so that the variable loop stripes have correspondingvariable back cloth stripes. The resulting cloth has Stripes whichpresent truer color than has previously been possible inasmuch as, whena monochromatic back cloth is used, the stripes in the loop cloth aresomewhat altered when backed by a different color. The invention alsorecognizes that this color alteration phenomenon may be put to goodadvantage by so synchronizing the said respective mechanisms 19 that thecolor shifts in the loop and back cloth do not occur simultaneously. Itis thus possible to have, for example, two or more different shades of acolor such as red although utilizing the same color loop yarn, bybacking respective stripes with back yarn of colors red, navy, white,etc.

Although the invention as described has been primarily concerned withthe manufacture of a variable striped loop cloth, it is readily apparentto those skilled in the art that the principles thereof may be readilyemployed in the manufacture of other types of cloth having variablestripes, for instance Terry cloth, elasticized cloths, etc. Having thusdescribed my invention, I claim to have invented:

1. In a machine for making loop cloth with variable color stripes, astriping box having a plurality of yarn carriers for sequentiallyfeeding yarns of different colors, a plurality of sinkers having noses,a needle between each pair of adjacent sinkers, cylinder means forrotating said sinkers in substantially circular paths, guiding means formoving the sinkers radially inward and radially outward with respect tosaid circular paths at predetermined locations thereof, said stripingbox having means for lowering its carriers selectively to position theyarns carried thereby above the sinker noses whereby said yarns ofdiiferent colors are sequentially fed above said sinker noses, each ofsaid needles having a hook facing radially outward, a wing cam forlowering the needles substantially simultaneously with the said sinkersnearing their outermost radial position, and means for feeding backyarns between the needles and the sinkers after the needles have beenlowered, the said back yarn being fed under the noses of the saidsinkers.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the last-named means is astriping box for shifting the yarn to different colors.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which both striping boxes are soadjusted that the stripes on top of the cloth correspond to those on theback.

4. In a machine for making loop cloth with color stripes, a plurality ofsinkers having noses, needles between the sinkers, a yarn feed mechanismfor feeding back yarn under the noses of said sinkers, a striping boxfor feeding loop yarns of different colors above said noses, and meansfor moving said box and mechanism relative to said sinkers and needles.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a plurality of sinkers having noses,first means feeding back yarn below the noses of said sinkers, andsecond means including a striping box selectively feeding difierentlycolored loop yarns above the noses of said sinkers.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said first means includes a furtherstriping box, first control means coupled to said first means todetermine the sequence of colors of a plurality of back yarns being fedunder said sinker noses and second control means coupled to said secondmeans to determine the color of loop yarn fed above said sinker noses.

7. In a machine for making loop cloth with variable color stripes, asubstantially cylindrical carrier having a plurality of sinkers withnoses and a plurality of needles movably mounted on a circular endthereof, a single needle being interposed between each pair of adjacentsinkers about said cylindrical carrier, a plurality of cams disposedadjacent said sinkers and needles, means effecting relative circularmotion between said carrier and said cams whereby said cams cause saidsinkers to move periodically inward and outward with respect to thecentral axis of said carrier and cause said needles to move periodicallyupward and downward substantially parallel to the central axis of saidcarrier, a yarn feed mechanism for feeding back yarn under the noses ofsaid sinkers when said needles are in a lowered position and saidsinkers are in an outward position with respect to the central axis ofsaid cylindrical carrier, and a striping box mechanism for selectivelyfeeding loop yarns of different colors above the noses of said sinkerswhen said needles are in a lowered position and said sinkers are in aninward position with respect to the central axis of said cylindricalcarrier.

8. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said cams are stationary, saidcylindrical carrier being rotated about its central axis by said meanseffecting relative circular motion.

9. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said yarn feed mechanism comprisesa further striping box selectively feeding back yarns of difierentcolors under the noses of said sinkers.

10. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said cams are so disposed withrespect to said cylindrical carrier that said sinkers are moved inwardand outward and said needles are moved upward and downward at apredetermined plurality of locations about said circular carrier, therebeing a yarn feed mechanism for feeding back yarn and a striping boxmechanism for feeding loop yarns at each of said plurality of locations.

11. The mechanism of claim 10 in which said cams are stationary, saidcylindrical carrier being rotated about its central axis by said meanseffecting relative circular motion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS365,728 Carroll June 28, 1887 694,515 Young Mar. 4, 1902 1,749,245Firsching Mar. 4, 1930 2,098,446 Agulnek Nov. 9, 1937 2,112,260 AgulnekMar. 29, 1938 2,192,969 Frank Mar. 12, 1940 2,220,428 Shager Nov. 5,1940 2,289,052 Seligman July 7, 1942 2,466,885 Floyd Apr. 12, 19492,543,121 Mishcon et a1 Feb. 27, 1951

